| Description of the theme:
This role described the therapists’ knowledge, skill, and willingness to work effectively with others, as a team member, in the health system, and with community stakeholders. |
| Knowledge:
There was a consensus that graduates should be knowledgeable about their roles and how to plan holistically with the multidisciplinary team. Additionally, graduates need to know the social and health legislation and procedures as it will help them understand the contextual and structural factors impacting the project development and implementation of programmes. In addition, occupational therapists expressed the need for graduates to build networks with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and government departments to deliver social services.
They [graduates] need to know what can I do here [with the patient]. The Physio can do this, but the OT can do this, and the Speech can do this, but we are all three fitting with this patient. We are planning, together, the treatment goal that will take this patient from here and back to the home. (Participant 3, established occupational therapist)
So coming here [rural hospital], if I say when a tribal authority meets on a Tuesday, I am expecting the graduate to understand community entry and that I would expect them to have the knowledge to say: maybe you take me to introduce me first, then I will run along with it. (Participant 5, established occupational therapist)
You need to have partnerships with the nurses and other MDT they would be an intricate part of screening for me, you know because I wasn’t able to be everywhere at once, so that collaboration was pretty much key to me having a smooth running department. (Participant 18, novice occupational therapist)
When you enter into a community, you need to understand the system and the structures that are there. For example, if you go into an urban community, you will find civic organisations, municipal counsellors and all that. So, you do need to be able to collaborate with all the stakeholders. (KZN-DoH national manager)
Engage relevant role-players as partners in the process of restoring occupational justice and occupational balance. (HPCSA minimum standards of training, P9) |
| Skills:
As indicated in the legislative documents, all participants agreed with the need for graduates to create and maintain networks and work in diverse teams. Both the novice and established occupational therapists thought it essential to work in teams for holistic service delivery and to engage in a multidisciplinary practice. Both the established and novice occupational therapists mentioned that graduates should be resourceful and establish networks in the community for successful project development. There was a consensus that graduates should develop collaboration and negotiation skills to access networks to determine existing programmes and services, e.g., support groups. They also expressed that graduates should learn negotiating skills to deal with developing goals with multidisciplinary team and stakeholders to ensure project goals that are mutually beneficial to the population the project would serve. All participants stressed that graduates should use appropriate approaches to enter the community. They should introduce themselves to recognize community leaders that serve as gatekeepers in the community.
Learning how to negotiate and meet halfway with them [community] to get what you want and let them [community] get what they want; that is a useful skill. (Participant 32, novice occupational therapy)
They must build networks with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other government departments such as the department of social service and DOE. (Participant 8, established occupational therapist) |
| Attitudes:
Both the novice and established occupational therapists mentioned that graduates should demonstrate a willingness to value the stakeholders’ views and consider their concerns. The national and global regulatory documents highlighted a similar attitude. Graduates should develop and maintain trust and mutual respect with professional and nonprofessional staff. Such relationships with role players were deemed essential to forming successful partnerships in the community setting. Novice occupational therapists found that having a volunteering spirit on the stakeholder and NGO projects had helped them to strengthen their working relationships with these groups.
… need trust and mutual respect with both professional and non-professional staff in the hospital, e.g. if you work with maintenance, you can get assistive devices made. (Participant 35, novice occupational therapist)
The fact is that in any community you have got to listen. They [graduates] need to be humble and listen to what others and the client is saying. I do not think we teach our students enough to listen. We’re so busy teaching them how to give answers. We do not have to know the answers. We’ve just got to know where to get the help. (Participant 7, established occupational therapist) |
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